They're happily delivered by Linux-OSS, so Linux-OSS contributes to the problem.

Indirectly it is, and it's actually a problem for everyone who uses the web, who might experience slowdowns or DOS attackes, etc.

So?

Where? They're not doing a very good job.

My WinServer machine hasn't been infected in a year of daily use. My Win2K machine, in 3-4 years of usage, got one browser hijack (coolwebsearch) and that's it. I sporadically used ZoneLabs firewall, but was otherwise on unprotected dial-up or cable modem.

The Jet engine is not so good in some respects. But Access is more than the db engine; it's a database client builder and query-reporting system with a file-server dbms. There is no comparable solution in the OSS world. Your challenge was for me to name 10 proprietary applications better than their OSS counterpart. Access has no open source counterpart - you can call OO Base one, but you'd be deluding yourself.

They're all worse. They're all slower to launch, and open and save files. They offer inferior or no scripting. They offer inferior charting. They offer inferior or no interoperability with any other office programs. If they can even run macros, they will allow you to record macros that will overwrite your data without warning. They have inferior print previews, and printing setup (headers-footers, margins, etc).

You're wrong. Again, everyone who has ever used both (including me) knows the truth

I'm afraid it's not going to be that easy for you. Dia and DiaCanvas are the only OSS diagramming tools I know about, and they're totally inferior to MS Visio.

Again, it won't be that easy for you to weasel away. Your challenge was for me to name 10 proprietary applications better than their OSS counterpart. Technically, VB has no open source counterpart - you can call Gambas an OSS VB, but you'd be deluding yourself.

If VB is no good, why is a VB-person the most awaited Linux app?

No it's not. Not even close. It's just another OSS clone-theftware-wannabe.

Inferior.

Again, you can't weasel out that easy. MS Project is a project Debt Management system for Windows. It's the best one available, as I told you.

You can use KPlato if you can stop laughing

They ALL pale in comparison to MS Project.

A laughable joke in comparison to MS Money or Quicken.

Not necessarily. Your challenge was for me to name 10 proprietary applications better than their OSS counterpart. MS happens to make very good business apps.

Naturally. You're lazy.

Your challenge was for me to name 10 proprietary applications better than their OSS counterpart. Oracle is proprietary. You didn't say anything about whether they run on Linux or not, only that they were Free or Open Source.

Your challenge was for me to name 10 proprietary applications better than their OSS counterpart. IBM DB2 is proprietary. You didn't say anything about whether they run on Linux or not, only that they were Free or Open Source.

Your challenge was for me to name 10 proprietary applications better than their OSS counterpart. Opera is proprietary. You didn't say anything about whether they run on Linux or not, only that they were Free or Open Source.

Konqueror is a much lesser web browser than Opera, or Firefox for that matter.

Too lazy to look it up, because you know you probably won't find a comparable OSS system.

What are they? You fail to name even ONE.

Only if they work for MS. Larry Ellison and friends coded Oracle in the beginning, and they're worth billions. Same for all the other proprietary apps.

LOL! What a silly excuse.

You're BEATEN, Aragorn. Again. The best OSS apps are, almost to a package, inferior to the best commercial counterpart.

That's just how it is. Has something to do with money I think.

If I counted all the app lockups and crashes I've experienced in Linux it would fill this post. Konqueror on Kubuntu crashes constantly.

Can't find it.

History seems to remember it differently, as an MS product at the start.

It's not fundamentally flawed, it's not a bare OS (it provides MUCH more functionality than a bare Linux OS), it's stable, and with SP2 it's fairly secure.

You're 1 for 5, at best.

Lie.

Exactly. And you're not forced to pay for MS software.

It wasn't too long ago that you were claiming your Asperger's Syndrome prevented you from recognizing sarcasm. So you appear to have been lying, and playing up your condition for some kind of odd attempt at sympathy.

That's the people you know. The evidence all over the web, and from the mouths of cola nuts, is they don't pay for their distros.

OK. That doesn't mean you aren't a liar.

Ask around.

So? As I said "Everything you listed can be found for 50% to 70% of those amounts (naturally you list full retail)." I didn't say upgrade version - you can find the full versions cheaply.

Then you better not ever be in charge of purchasing commercial software at a large company, 'cause some of the licensing costs for non-MS software (like for Oracle, SAP, Hummingbird, Hyperion, etc) are exorbitant.

You're thinking of yourself, who's deluded into believing Linux users pay for all, or even most, of their software. Linux user freeload, and rarely give back.

OK. Dell and HP both offer Linux systems. Just those 2 vendors comprise at least 35% of the worldwide PC market.

If you feel that's not enough choice, you have every right to open up your own hardware vendor and sell only Linux systems. I hope you have a lot of money to waste - well, you're a Linux user, so it's almost a certainty you don't. But maybe you can bilk a rich friend into wasting his money trying to sell Linux machines.

?

So? Those are terms of their licensing. You're not forced to buy it.

Where do you get that idea from?

So the world doesn't have only 1 option for an Intel PC operating system. Linux isn't a credible alternative at this point, but it's probably the best hope. Though MacOS on Intel is looking promising.

I used to use lots of non-MS programs, but MS kept improving their versions and the market responded by buying them, until the inferior compebreastion gave up. Lotus, Borland, WordPerfect, etc.

And what's wrong with NT? It still powers much of the corporate world. I wouldn't be surprised if its server market share is larger than Linux'.